Public Health
Policy News
Public Health Policy News Quarterly Volume 1: Issue 2 Winter 2012
Public Health Public-Private Partnerships
What are Public-Private Partnerships? By Megha Patel, Graduate Fellow
F rom general health and wellbeing to disaster preparedness,
food safety, and injury prevention, public health addresses
many of our nation’s needs, providing an intricate road map
for the management of and leadership on an exceptionally diverse
portfolio of issues and problems. In order to accomplish such a vast
array of tasks, public health must cultivate a network of partners,
one of the most common being the partnership between public and
private entities.
Public-private partnerships, which describe a government
service or private business venture that is funded and operated
through a partnership of government and one or more private
sector companies, are increasingly being used to tackle large,
complicated, and expensive public health problems.1 Such
partnerships foster ingenuity, collaboration, networking, and
teamwork between separate entities, allowing for multiple facets of
society to engineer solutions to a variety of problems and issues.
Public-private partnerships have three characteristic
components. First, they involve at least one private for-profit
organization with at least one non-profit organization. Second,
the main partners foster joint sharing of efforts and benefits.
Lastly, public health partnerships are committed to create
social value and improve health, especially for disadvantaged
populations.2 The flexibility and increased scope of knowledge
that accompanies these cross-sector alliances in combination with
high-quality, best practice information from other sources creates
an opportunity to promote innovation and effective public health
programs.3
1. http://womeningovernment.org/public-health/collaboration
2. Reich, M.R. Public-Private Partnerships for Public Health. Nature
Medicine. 6, 617-620. 2012. <http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v6/
n6/full/nm0600_617.html>
3. McDonnell, S., Bryant, C., et al. The Private Partners of Public
Health: Public-Private Alliances for Public Good. Prev Chronic
Dis. 2009 April; 6(2): A69 <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
PMC2687875/>
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have
identified the following reasons why partnerships are needed:4
• Identify problems
• Identify the customers and providers
• Learn what has and has not worked
• Develop roles and responsibilities
• Leverage efforts
• Get solutions to where the problems are
• Measure outcomes and effectiveness
• Communication.
Traditional public health organizations often face limited
financial resources, complex social and behavioral problems,
disease transmission across boundaries, and reduced state
responsibilities. At the same time, corporate mandates require
private for-profit organizations to recognize public health goals
and social responsibility as part of their objectives. Therefore,
both public and private organizations are identifying common
goals and aligning these group’s interests has the potential to
provide better approaches and solutions to accomplish these
main objectives. Successful public-private partnerships can create
positive growth for clearly defined public health goals through
the creation of effective mechanisms designed to address complex
problems by collaborating the ideas, resources, and knowledge of
different partners.5
Creating a successful partnership requires that all involved
parties understand their roles and the business models used,
develop a working relationship and trust, identify common
interests, determine value, and be committed to common goals.
These partnerships can be as simple as exchanging information by
attending professional meetings, to more intensive funded or non-
funded collaborations with a standard set of protocols.6
To learn more about public health public-private
partnerships, and public health in general, please visit Women In
Government’s Public Health Policy Resource Center which acts as
a clearinghouse of educational materials and policy resources aimed
at addressing the gaps in the education, prevention, preparedness,
and management of public health issues. The address is http://
www.womeningovernment.org/public-health. n
4. CDC. Public Health and Public Private Partnerships. <http://wwwn.
cdc.gov/cliac/pdf/Addenda/cliac0205/F_Addenda.pdf>
5. Reich, M.R. Public-Private Partnerships for Public Health. Nature
Medicine. 6, 617-620. 2012. <http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v6/
n6/full/nm0600_617.html>
6. CDC. Public Health and Public Private Partnerships. <http://wwwn.
cdc.gov/cliac/pdf/Addenda/cliac0205/F_Addenda.pdf>
1
Public-Private Partnership Model
T he predominate forms of partnership, found in the shaded boxes below, describe models in which the private sector provides financ-
ing while the public provides services. Conversely, the white boxes demonstrate situations in which the public sector finances and the
private sector provides services.1,2. n
Services Provided by Public Sector
• Public health facilities
• Public hospitals
Public Financing
• Surveillance programs
• Health education
• User fees
• Autonomous hospitals
Private Financing
• Drug donations
• Vaccine development
1. Based on World Health Organization, “Report on Interregional
Meeting on the Public/Private Mix in National Health Systems and
the Role of Ministries of Health,” 1991. Geneva. < http://www.scribd.
com/doc/73793152/Public-Private-0>
Women In Government’s Midwestern Regional Conference
Addresses Public-Private Partnerships
T his summer, Women In Government held its 19th Annual
Midwestern Regional Conference in Des Moines, Iowa.
The meeting convened female state legislators from the
Midwestern Region to discuss current policy issues facing their
states. One of the panels discussed public-private partnerships and
used the “Don’t Bug Me” flu campaign as a successful example. The
panel was facilitated by Representative Patti Bellock from the Illinois
State Legislature and featured two panelists, Tyra Palmer and Debra
Burns, who provided an overview of partnerships, campaigns that
have worked, and how they were created and promoted.
Successful Community Engagement Programs & Health
Partnerships
Tyra Palmer has over 25 years of healthcare marketing
and business experience, and serves as Vice President of
Communications & Government Relations for Ardent Health
Services’ two health divisions, Hillcrest HealthCare System in
Oklahoma and Lovelace Health System in New Mexico. The two
systems include 10 acute hospitals, one rehabilitation hospital,
a group of physicians with more than 250 multi-specialties, a
240,000 member health plan, 11 retail pharmacies, and more than
9,000 employees. She also oversees physician relations, physician
recruitment, and business development functions.
Hillcrest Medical Center went from being a non-profit to
a for-profit organization in 2004 when they were acquired by
Ardent Health Services. Faced with a national crisis of inadequate
influenza vaccinations, the Tulsa Health Department collaborated
with Hillcrest to educate the community about how healthy
lifestyle can prevent the flu. Their primary goal was to focus on
children vaccinations at school. The organizations had to decide
how to accomplish this goal in a timely matter as flu season was
quickly approaching. The partnership began by looking at the
strengths of both organizations, noting that the Tulsa Health
Department had the connections and the deliverables to get the
2 cont’d on pg. 2
Services Provided by Private Sector
• Contracts
• Vouchers
• Social insurance programs
• Social marketing
• Fee for service
• Regulation
• Participation in national control programs (eg. HIV)
2. Mitchell, Marc. “An Overview of Public Private Partnerships in
Health” Harvard School of Public Health. < http://www.hsph.harvard.
edu/ihsg/publications/pdf/PPP-final-MDM.pdf>
information into the schools,
while Hillcrest had marketing
expertise and leverage of money
to create change.
The campaign goal was
quite simple: raise awareness
of simple practices to reduce
the spread of the flu. The
partnership focused on hand
washing, covering one’s cough,
and staying at home when ill,
simple tasks that elementary
school kids can easily remember. School-aged children were
primarily targeted but as the campaign developed, the partnership
recognized the importance of parents hearing this message.
The message was also spread to legislators and businesses and
emphasized the cost incurred with the flu, both in terms of
funding and lost productivity. To combat these issues, Hillcrest
Medical Center utilized the tactics of disseminating information
on flu prevention. The provided educational materials are
reviewed by both physicians and the health department. This
includes coloring sheets, temporary tattoos, and restroom posters.
While Hillcrest Medical Center creates the materials, the health
departments distribute them.
The Tulsa Health Department completed a survey for
Oklahoma concluding that the campaign, known as a “big impact,
little budget” campaign, reached 125,000 kids locally in 300
schools every year. Additionally, 3,500 restaurants placed the
posters in their restrooms, thus increasing the program’s reach. A
survey completed by the Tulsa Health Department found that 67
percent of all mothers in the Tulsa metropolitan area knew of the
campaign, and of those, 84 percent believed it improved health.
Palmer suggested the state legislators begin to create public-private
cont’d from pg. 2
The Viral Hepatitis Action
partnerships by simply asking local businesses, small or large, to
participate in projects similar to the “Don’t Bug Me Campaign”
Coalition By Megha Patel, Graduate Fellow

T
while also asking publicly funded organizations what they are
he Viral Hepatitis Action Coalition (VHAC) is a public-
doing to leverage their dollars.
private partnership developed by the CDC Foundation
The program is available on the website for the Tulsa Health
to assist the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Department and the tools can be downloaded at no cost. To
(CDC) to make meaningful advances in the prevention, screen-
date, the Tulsa Health Department has had 33 different state
ing, and treatment of viral hepatitis. Approximately 4.6 million
organizations ask for the program materials. Worldwide, requests
Americans are chronically infected with hepatitis B or C virus; this
for program materials have come from as far away as Russia.
amounts to 11,000 to 15,000 hepatitis-related deaths per year.
For more information on the program, visit http://www.hill-
crest.com/dont-bug-me. n

The Healthy Minnesota

Partnership By Megha Patel, Graduate Fellow

T he Healthy Minnesota Partnership is a broad statewide

coalition that includes the Minnesota Department of
Health and community leaders from business, academia,
non-profit organizations, and advocacy groups among others, to
improve the health of individuals, families, and communities. The
goal of the partnership is
to develop public health
priorities and strategies
to improve health, which
includes the creation of a
This coalition combats viral hepatitis by linking the private sector’s
statewide health assessment
innovation and resources with the access and expertise of the CDC.
and plan. In August 2012,
This coalition was inspired by an Institute of Medicine (IOM) 2010
the partnership approved
report, which addresses the general lack of knowledge about the
Healthy Minnesota 2020,
scope and severity of viral hepatitis in the U.S. It specifically recom-
a framework designed to
mended that the CDC work with the private partners to:
create a Minnesota where all individuals are given the opportunity
• Increase data collection on hepatitis B and C to improve
to be healthy. This framework was based on the statewide health
overall understanding of how many people are infected,
assessment, The Health of Minnesota, which was conducted by the
how they become infected, if and when they get tested
Minnesota Department of Health. The framework emphasizes three
and treated, and the subsequent outcomes.
points that reflect the importance of social and economic determi-
• Educate populations at risk, healthcare providers, and
nants for health:1
the public about hepatitis to promote vaccination and
• Capitalize on the opportunity to influence health in early
prevention strategies and encourage screening and
childhood
testing.
• Assure that the opportunity for health is available
The CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis (DVH) conducts
everywhere and for everyone
research, surveillance, education and training, and evaluation to
• Strengthen communities to create their own healthy
facilitate policy and design interventions; the other members of
futures.
the coalition help to support the CDC-led research and programs
The Healthy Minnesota Partnerships framework acknowl-
and amplify the CDC’s goal to increase public awareness of viral
edges that good health is the result of a variety of factors spanning
hepatitis. Some of the VHAC’s initial projects include:
many sectors and organizations. Therefore, it features widespread
• Birth-cohort Evaluation to Advance Screening and
strategies that provide methods for other sectors to collaborate to
Testing for Hepatitis C (BEST-C)
pursue the goal of statewide health improvement. The Partnership
• National Hepatitis Education Campaign
developed the framework with the hope that it help change the
• Chronic Hepatitis B and C Cohort Study (CHeCS)
conversation about health while also energizing the public, pri-
• Viral Hepatitis Action Coalition Fellowships.1,2
vate, and non-profit sectors to work toward a more comprehensive
To learn more about the Viral Hepatitis Action Coalition, go
approach focused on creating health.2,3 n
to www.viralhepatitisaction.org n
1. Minnesota Department of Health. Healthy Minnesota 2020. <http:// 1. CDC Foundation. Viral Hepatitis Action Coalition. <http://www.
www.health.state.mn.us/healthymnpartnership/hm2020/> cdcfoundation.org/vhac>
2. Minnesota Department of Health. Healthy Minnesota 2020. <http:// 2. Viral Hepatitis Coalition Foundation. <http://viralhepatitisaction.org/
www.health.state.mn.us/healthymnpartnership/about.html> about>
3. Minnesota Department of Health. Healthy Minnesota 2020. <http://
www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/2012/hm2020080212.html>